Felicia Ooi; Othello

Overall, Othello was a story that I felt played entirely on major human weaknesses, like jealousy, greed, and pride. The main character, Othello, was portrayed initially as a noble character, who despite being a Moor, was a man of relative power and position. However, he eventually fell for Iago's vindictive lies, deceptions and falsehoods, and because of his own pride, he ended up murdering Desdemona, and then committing suicide. Iago was indeed a character who is to be both despised, yet admired. In a perverse manner, Iago emerges victorious from the whole tragic fiasco, and he is the only one who accomplished his goal of making Othello suffer. He is to be admired in the fact that despite his conniving and vicious lies, he is never caught red-handed as being the one to blame for everything because he thinks carefully before taking action. Nevertheless, to me, when compared to Shakespearean Tragedy, Greek Tragedy is a lot more dramatic and "tragic" in the most literal sense of the word.

othello

"Othello" is a tragic flaw. A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow. First of all, Othello feels himself inferior because he is a blackamoor. He thinks that there exits a gap between he and his white wife, Desdemona. He feels that he does not deserve Desdemona because of his color. So, when Iago provocates, the inferiority complex makes Othello believe Iago's story and thus drags out the tragedy. Othello also relies on others too much. His previous success and happy marriage blinds him. All he saw before was the bright part of the world. He never thought that the world also has half dark part and exits hellions such like Iago. Othello is also a represetation of androcentrism. He can not bear with the betrayal of his wife. Moreover, Othello's impulse ridden personality is good for him as a warrior in the war but not a thoughtless husband. Therefore, the tragedy is predetermined by Othello's flawed humanity.

Othello, Sappho

This week in class we read the end of Othello and began to read over Sappho poetry. The ending of Othello was very interesting. I enjoyed seeing the events unfold leading to Othello’s’ murder of Desdemona. To kill her, Othello at first decides to poison her, but Iago persuades him to strangle her instead. I think it is stupid how easily Othello was manipulated by Iago, but I understand that Othello deeply trusted Iago, making it hard to believe he was being lied to.
We also read some poetry by Sappho this week. I found the poetry to be a bit confusing to understand, but one thing I noticed was that a lot of passion was put into her poetry. It’s disappointing that much of her work is lost and only fragments remain from most of her work, as it’d be interesting to clarify a lot of ambiguous meanings to a lot of the poems.

Othello

Even if Iago was the Antagonist in the play of Othello, it is very hard to deny that Iago is fascinating character in the play. I did bit of background research about the story.Although Othello was the character who goes through tramendous misery, Aigo could have been the main character since his role is interesting enough to the reader. Apprent from Shakespeare's other writings, none of the evil characters were protagonists. Intriguingly at his era, most of writings were written in perspective of good people.Thus, i reread the story in Aigo's point of view as if he is the main character. The story is much more convincing to read in clever, and evil main character other than Naive, and weak personal character.

Othello

So this week I finished Othello. I had never read it before, I really enjoyed it. My favorite thing about shakespeare is his ability to have complex character development and struggle, while also having entertaining comical scenes. He hides a lot of jokes in his script. The character Iago seems ridiculous because he ruins peoples lives completely simply because he didn't get a job promotion. He used his friends and caused the death of Roderigo and Desdamona. I feel the worst for the women of this play because they have no authority. No matter how many times Desdamona tells Othello she hasn't cheated on him, he never believes her and will only believe what Iago tells him. Even at the end when Iago's wife Emilia is trying to say what has really happened, she has to struggle to get people to take her seriously.

William Chiu

This week, I completed the reading of Othello. Throughout the story, one cannot help but feel sorry for Othello who cannot see past the schemes of Iago. It is clear that Othello is a good leader, but he appears to thinkbonly with his heart without his brain. It comes a shock that Iago is able to carry out his web if lies to the end of the story. Othello's lacking in the ability to take command and make proper decisions becomes apparent in these final scenes. From Iago's words alone, Othello goes into a mad rage without proof. He disregards whatever pleas his wife Desdemona makes forcing him to first kill the innocent man Cassio. From this alone is is clear that Iago has Othello's mind completely shut off from the opinions of the real world. He is under the spell of anger which will lead to aggression towards his general Cassio. However, Cassio's death at the hands of Othello is only the first of much death and downfall to come. Iago's tricky words leads Othello to even kill his very wife. After which he decides to sadly take his own life. The protagonist and antagonist of this story is Iago and Othello respectively, however from the looks of the story,it seems the roles have switched. Othello is a good warrior and leader but he simply does not posses the mental capacity to outwit Iago.

Othello

Othello is a really interesting play. I can definitely see how Shakespeare delves into the human psyche with this play; it deals with love, jealousy, and hate among other emotions. It's amazing to see just how manipulative Iago is. In the beginning of the play he says outright to Roderigo that he is not what he seems. You would think that Roderigo would hear that and begin to think twice about what Iago says and does later on, but he continues to take him at his word. Not only does he believe what Iago is saying, he becomes Iago's lackey. It seems that all the characters throughout the play do not suspect Iago of being anything but honest and caring. Othello himself is convinced Iago loves him and looks out for him even though Iago is secretly plotting his downfall. In this sense, even though the reader of the play can't see Iago, I would imagine it would take an incredibly good actor to be able to play a character that seems so genuine to everyone else. The play may be titled after the character Othello, but it is Iago that is the focal point to me. Even though he is the “evil” character, you must have some grudging respect for how well he manipulates everyone. I don't believe he is even truly evil, since he doesn't just cause hate and violence for the mere fun of it, he has a motive for the way he acts. Granted, he completely overreacts in this situation, but it is a good example of a specific kind of person that is found in every society.

Othello

The Shakespearean play "Othello" is a fascinating tale, and especially becomes intriguing in the latter sections of the play. Iago, clearly an evil schemer, manipulates Othello in order to achieve his own wicked purposes. The failing of Othello is intriguing in this respect, since as a soldier he appears to be very in charge of his own life and the lives of those around him. His failing in this sense is not pride or hubris, as illustrated in many Greek plays, but instead in being a trusting individual. It appears that Shakespeare is warning those who take too much faith in the words and suggestions of others will fall prey to evil intentions that others may have. Iago uses underlying insecurities to pull Othello around as he sees fit, eventually convincing him to kill his own wife. After Desdemona is killed, Othello finally becomes aware of Iago's scheming and villainy, but cannot come to terms with the actions he has taken, and kills himself. This play resolves itself in a very curious manner, since the characters we have been identifying with have all revealed great flaws in character and actions; the hero at the end of the play is named Graziano, with whom we have not spent nearly as much time as say Othello or Iago. It is an interesting change to the established winnings of the hero and the typical villainous evildoer.

Willie Ho

As I continued reading Othello, I realized how much hate I had for the character Iago! He is so evil and clever and it is so unfair! All he does is plot and plot about how he will do this and that. He took the simple gesture of Cassio taking Desdemona's hand as a reason to try and rid Cassio of his lieutenant status. As if that were not bad enough, he started the whole commotion with Montano, Roderigo, and Cassio ending with a wound to Montano. Then he ruins Othello's image of Desdemona when he convinced him that Desdemona is in some sort of relationship with Cassio.

Iago is like a snake. He is very stealthy and he knows what he is doing. This makes him very dangerous- much like a snake. He knows how to manipulate people's words and abuse the weaknesses that people have. I would like to see Iago perish sometime in this play.

Othello

This past week we read the 2nd and 3rd acts of Othello. I find the character of Iago to be very interesting, due to his relentless scheming and overall evilness. It's interesting how Othello manages to trust Iago, though, even over his own wife. Othello has a very trusting nature, but when it comes time to trust the one person he should, over everyone else, he fails to and i think it is this that proves to be his downfall. I also feel that Othello is quick to action in some cases, like the punishment of Cassio, and it is also this that helps his downfall.

Margaret Yoon; Othello

After finishing Othello, I was more convinced of Othello’s foolishness. He bases his accusations on Desdemona and Cassio solely through his trust in Iago, falling prey to the grand scheme Iago prepares for all of them, but this also emphasizes the great level of Iago’s cunning. I thought the scene towards the end of the play where Roderigo and Cassio are injured and the others are gathering to try to discern what has happened is executed with great rapidity. I felt the action was very crammed and out of control, which is perhaps a technique Shakespeare utilizes to create an atmosphere where one can really feel Iago’s plan come to realization.

Desdemona reminds me of Sita in The Ramayana because they both embody faithful wives. However, Sita becomes outraged when Ram questions her chastity after he brings her back, whereas Desdemona continues to profess her love for her husband, even after he has accused her of being with Cassio.

Contrasting from the other malicious characters in the Greek plays we have read, Iago seems to go unpunished. What is Shakespeare’s purpose in creating a world where evil is not necessarily penalized?

William Chiu

The Shakespearean play Othello was a slight nuisance to read because of the language used to tell the story. However despite the time needed to comprehend the plot, I found the story to be interesting because of the cunning antagonist Iago. Although he clearly establishes a resentful relationship with the reader from his trickery, I found his actions and thought process almost inspiring. Instead of using his skillful comprehension of communication and observation to create conflict within Othello's community he could have served a much better purpose and perhaps even rise in the ranks to be lieutenant without deceitfulness to overthrow Cassio. I was drawn into the story because i was fascinated by the manipulative abilities that one man could utilize. He was able to spin a web of lies under the scope of all those around him while remaining trustful in the eyes of Othello, the object of his actions. Although Othello is the protagonist of this story and the reader should feel the need to take Othello's side based on mood created by the author. I found that Othello should have been aware of the trickery occurring. Othello described as a great and noble warrior however he cannot see the situation created by one man.